Daily Express Report, says: CONTAMINATED drinking water is putting flood victims at risk, say experts. Water companies have admitted human sewage and animal manure has leaked into mains water supplying thousands of homes. Flood victims have been told to use either bottled water or boiled tap water.
Last night, Professor Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist at Aberdeen University, said that a bacterium called Cryptosporidium was the biggest danger. It can cause stomach upsets and severe diarrhoea and in rare cases it can prove fatal to those with weak immune systems“ If this gets into the drinking supplies it can be a nasty bug,” said Prof Pennington.” Hopefully this risk is small, simply because there has been so much rain that levels of this bug are diluted.”He added that those handling items rescued from flooded homes should take care as these could be contaminated.
Ian Cluckie, professor of hydrology at Bristol University, said he was staggered to see film of children playing in the flood water. “People think it is harmless rainwater but it is effectively diluted untreated human sewage,” he said.
